Pop’s most famous Gilbert on life at 70
He’s still singing, gigging and now standing up on pianos!
Ask Gilbert O’Sullivan what is the key to his success in a career that has lasted 50 years and he will tell you the song’s the thing. ‘I made my first record in 1967,’ he remarks. ‘What I’ve come to realise is that the quality of the song is at the centre of everything. That’s what has kept my feet on the ground.’
Well, sometimes on the ground. Recently, the Waterford-born singer-songwriter played to over 40,000 people as part of the BBC Proms in the Park in Hyde Park. During his performance of one of his biggest hits, Get Down, he got up instead on top of his piano and danced on it, leading the crowd in a singalong of its chorus.
‘My daughter and my wife said “please don’t do it!” but I couldn’t resist,’ he laughs. ‘It’s fun. I’m 70 years of age for God’s sake. I should be in a wheelchair.’
Although his biggest hits such as Clair, Alone Again Naturally and Nothing Rhymed were all in the 1970s, his career has undergone a renaissance in recent years. His work has been praised by artists as diverse as Paul Weller and Michael Bublé.
And Gilbert’s many Irish fans will be able to see him headlining the Sligo Live Festival at the end of this month and also when he returns from his Jersey home for more dates here in November. He recently re-signed to a major label which is affirmation, he feels, of his enduring appeal. He also has his family closely involved.
‘My son Kevin has worked with me since 1974 as my PA,’ he says with audible pride.
‘My daughter does my social media. My eldest daughter Marie works in publishing. My wife provides great support to me in everything else I do. I own the rights to all my older songs. The compilations that are put out are approved by me. The most recent one went into the top ten in Britain, that is immensely gratifying.’
It wasn’t all so rosy. He had to go to court in the mid-seventies at the height of his career when he found out that his former manager Gordon Mills was not paying him a fair share of the earnings from his multi-million selling hits. After a protracted case, he won £7million in 1982. In today’s terms that would be nearer £25 million, but the episode checked his musical momentum.
‘I couldn’t record at the height of my fame,’ he told me. ‘I was up there with Elton John and Rod Stewart at the time and I lost seven years really, because of the court proceedings. But I fought it and I won.’
Now, he says, the next songs, the next album, which he is currently recording, are all that occupy his mind.
‘I’m working with a producer called Ethan John. His father, Glyn, produced the Rolling Stones in the Sixties,’ he says. ‘Ethan has worked with so many artists that I really like and respect, from Paulo Nutini, Laura Marling and Ray LaMontagne to Paul McCartney and Tom Jones.’
Though used to working primarily on his own, he is shrewd enough to know that the input of the younger producer and of keeping abreast of current artists and their respective approaches will keep his music fresh – and he keeps on top of trends himself.
‘It’s important to hear what’s going on around me musically and hopefully be influenced by it. I buy everything. You name it, I buy it. If I buy a Rihanna album or a Jay Z album I might not get a lot out of them in terms of songwriting but maybe I might in terms of production values and the sounds they get.’
Lest there be any doubt, there is no room for talk of the ‘R’ word.
‘Retirement?’ he says in mock horror. ‘I have too many songs that I want to finish. I’m not like Elton John, who can compose a load of melodies, go on holidays and let Bernie Taupin write the words .... But then, when I finish them, however long it takes, I’m delighted that I did the whole thing on my own.’ Alone? Naturally.